1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oven and, more particularly, to an oven that is capable of discharging hot air generated when cooling a door and heat generated in a cooking chamber through the lower end of the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food, which is placed in an enclosed cooking space, to cook the food. Based on heat sources, ovens are classified into an electric oven, a gas oven, and a microwave oven. The electric oven uses an electric heater as the heat source, the gas oven uses gas heat as the heat source, and the microwave oven uses frictional heat of water molecules due to microwaves as the heat source.
When food is cooked by such an oven, the interior temperature of a cooking chamber is increased up to approximately 300° C. As a result, heat generated in the cooking chamber is transmitted to a door, and therefore, the door is heated. For this reason, the oven has a door cooling apparatus to prevent a user from being burned by the heated door. Examples of an oven having such a door cooling apparatus are disclosed in Korean Registered Utility Model Publication No. 132999 and Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-35776.
In the conventional oven, however, hot air generated when cooling the door is discharged in front of the oven through the upper end of the door. As a result, the hot air is directed to the face of a user, when the user observes the state of food being cooked, and therefore, the user feels unpleasantness.
Furthermore, if heat generated in the cooking chamber is discharged together with the hot air generated when cooling the door, the temperature of the discharged air is increased, and vaporized oil is also discharged in front of the oven. Consequently, the user's unpleasantness is increased.